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Farm Action leverages its research, policy development, advocacy campaigns, and political expertise to create a food and agriculture system that works for everyone, not just a handful of powerful corporations. We are joined in our movement by farmers, ranchers, rural communities, food system workers, policymakers, advocates, and anyone who eats.
We envision a fair, inclusive, and competitive food and agriculture system that respects our land, natural resources, and neighbors around the world.
We understand that discrimination against Black farmers, Indigenous communities, and people of color are symptoms of the same extractive mindset that degrades the land, abuses animals, and traps rural communities in cycles of poverty and social strife. We cannot solve one of these issues without considering all of them. We can only achieve a more just food system by considering each issue, elevating the work of groups experiencing hardships and generating solutions on the ground, and developing a common narrative that brings these diverse stakeholders together.
“No market currently exists to set a fair price for our farmers and ranchers to be paid.” Senator Cory Booker describes how Farm Action inspired him to take on corporate monopolies in agriculture.
Farm Action team members have a proven track record of success and are tested leaders in the food and farm community. Speaking out for a fair and just food system, Farm Action has the opportunity to leverage the voices of some of the most trusted professionals in the country: American farmers.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fragility of the current hyper-consolidated, globalized food system. Producers and consumers were left out in the cold while the breakdown of our food supply exposed dramatic flaws in the way we treat farmers, workers, animals, and the land. This crisis prompted many to call for big systemic change in the food system. We turned this newfound awareness into an opportunity for action.
Advocating for Change at the White House and Federal Agencies
In late 2020, our team developed a roadmap for the incoming Biden administration to revitalize our rural communities and deconsolidate our food system. In July 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, setting out 72 action items to be taken by federal agencies with the goal of disrupting corporate power. This Executive Order represents the most aggressive stance against corporate power by an administration in decades, and the White House has thanked our team for drafting the “playbook” for their actions related to food and agriculture. We now see an unprecedented opportunity to work with the administration to put these reforms into place.
Driving Legislative Reforms Through Congress
The Farm Action team has earned the respect of key members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. We are frequently called upon to brief members of Congress on food and agriculture policy. Senator Booker, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research, publicly credits Farm Action’s leadership for inspiring him to take on corporate monopolies in agriculture. Many of Farm Action’s policy recommendations have been drafted into legislative packages, including the Farm System Reform Act, Climate Stewardship Act, and the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act. Our eyes are on the 2023 and 2028 farm bills, which present the best opportunity to drive these and other major policy reforms in food and agriculture.
Building a Movement for a Fair, Inclusive, and Competitive Food and Agriculture System
From unfair agriculture markets to worker abuses, inhumane animal conditions, and environmental degradation, our founders saw a common theme in our food and agriculture system: at the root of all these issues lies monopolistic corporate control, impacting every one of us.
Our team got to work. In 2017, polling showed that 65% of people saw corporate monopolies as a big problem, and by 2020 that number had grown to 87%. By connecting and supporting unlikely allies, we spread awareness that abusive corporate power is the common adversary to a resilient and just food and agriculture system. Our mission keeps the interconnectedness of the land, animals, workers, farmers, ranchers, and communities at the forefront of this fight.
Today, Farm Action is a thought leader, policy developer, and network builder for farmers and ranchers, food chain workers, consumers, organizations, and policymakers up and down the food supply chain. Headquartered in Missouri, we are a tax-deductible charitable 501(c)(3) organization that formed as an affiliate of Farm Action Fund, a political nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization.
Together, our two organizations represent a seamless chain of action from research and policy development, to the adoption of the policy through legislative action by elected officials who support our vision.
